GALION - Covert Manufacturing will spend nearly $8 million to build a new factory in Galion and create at least 35 jobs over the next three years, the company announced this week.

"It’s a real positive for the city of Galion," said Mayor Tom O'Leary. "There’s nothing better for the city’s economy than when one of your major employers makes that kind of commitment to the city and to its workers."

Covert already employs about 291 people in Galion. Terms of a tax incentive the city gave Covert on the project require the company to fill those new position by September 2021, said Matt Echelberry, communications director for Galion.

The 50,000-square-foot building the company is constructing off Wood Street is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

"It’s between their training center and their other factory," O'Leary said.

People who drive by the fenced-in area will notice piles of dirt and several large pieces of earth-moving equipment.

"Some of the site prep has started," Echelberry said.

The first phase was for the city to move a waterline that crossed the plat of land where the facility is being built. Then the crews had to install the proper drainage pipes needed for the facility.

The company plans to spend $2.3 million on the building, and about $5.6 million on new machinery inside.

"They’re going to manufacture to the air disc brake market," O'Leary said. "I think the trucking industry is moving in that direction."

The company will receive a 50 percent tax reduction on the property during the first 10 years after its completion. Echelberry said the value of that still has to be determined.

"This 50 percent abatement is off the current value and whatever the assessment is after the project is done," Echelberry said. "Whatever the increase in value is, you knock 50 percent the value off that. Typically the assessed value is 35 percent the property valuation."

The county auditor cannot assess the value until after the project is complete. Echelberry said the abatement begins the year after completion, and will continue nine years after.

"The abatement itself then terminates after that period," Echelberry said.

The city negotiated those terms with Covert in order to encourage the company to expand within the city's limits.

"I think that’s a pretty generous credit, and I think it was important to make this project profitable for the company," O'Leary said.

The new jobs can be career positions for those with a strong background in the industry.

"They will be almost entirely machinist jobs," O'Leary said. "These are among the better paying jobs in the community."